"Christmas comes but once a year," my mother was apt to sing out on St Stephen's Day, "but when it comes, it brings good cheer!" We children (eight of us by the end) exchanged meaningful glances.
Then Thomas, ever enquiring, spoke up: "Will Father Christmas come back next year?" Judith was more probing: "Where does he live all the rest of the year?" Since this was 1945 and my father was due to stand for Parliament in the coming summer General Election, in the Labour interest in Oxford, I thought it tactful to ask: "Will he vote Labour?"
